Not Upgrade Material - This is the first MFSL CD I ve purchased that sounds identical to the standard issue, and I ve bought dozens over the years. Did I waste my money? No - it ll still be a much sought-after collectible when it goes out of production, regardless of whether it s deserving of such status. So if you re only looking for a sonic upgrade, I d recommend sticking with your 2000 remix/remaster. If you re a collector, you ll probably want it anyway.
A Modern Classic - Before buying this album my knowledge of Lennon s songs were restricted to the Lennon Legend compilation. Imagine certainly opened my view to the songs which are usually left out of the best of... type of albums. Songs like Crippled Inside , How Do You Sleep? , How? and Oh Yoko! show the artistic mastery of Lennon as a musician and his typically straightforward lyrics are as poignant as ever.This is the first MFSL recording I have listened to and the sonic performance of this CD is astounding. Having compared the songs Imagine and Jealous Guy with the standard sound of the conventional CD I was simply amazed at the quality delivered on my sound system (standard equipment). The superb sound of this CD is well worth paying for.
Second strong solo album by Lennon benefits from remix - Imagine was supposed to be Plastic Ono Band sugar coated for the masses. Lennon returned to some of the themes that dominated the emotional rollercoaster first album. In reality, Imagine has aged better than the much rawer POB. Perhaps its the song craft and return to melody, but Imagine does a much better job balancing the darker songs with the tender moments.The utopian title track is often misunderstood. It s not a blind, hippy anthem but, instead, Lennon s recognition that we don t live in the world he wishes for in the song. His suggestion to make it a reality is to take the first step in hopes that it ll come to pass. The best song on the album, though, is the marvelous Jealous Guy. Originally demoed and written for The White Album, Lennon was never happy with the lyrics and came back to it again and again. This is one of Lennon s most sublime and tender ballads. That s something coming from the man that unleased the electric howl of Mother or Cold Turkey.Just about every track can hold its own with some of Lennon s best solo work. How touches on themes explored much less lyrically on POB. While Oh Yoko is a plain, straight ahead love song. Yes, How Do You Sleep? is a pretty nasty comment on Lennon s relationship with McCartney but they were still in the aftermath of a nasty divorce. McCartney s marvelous Dear Friend (from the so-so album Wild Life)acts as the perfect letter back, it s clear that McCartney wanted to try and heal some of the deep wounds that they inflicted on each other in the press and in song.There are no bonus tracks. That s a good and bad thing. The bonus tracks for POB were a horrible selection and didn t fit there. The song Happy Xmas might have been a good choice but Yoko chose not to include it (it was released in 1972 but recorded between Imagine and the horrible Sometime in New York City). The sound quality is sharper and clearer here than on the Capitol version. Is it a huge difference? Frankly, the differences are subtle but enough to make it a worthwhile purchase for fans of the album. That and the fact that it s a limited edition pressing (usually MFS pressings are only available for a three or so years)make it essential for Beatle fans.
Imagine this - As John Winston Lennon has influenced me above many others for pure psychological research value alone (for his and my issues), I therefore get great mileage from this 1971 release. To say that John was plagued by personal demons is an understatement: mother-abandonment, achievement-success recognition, and social adaptability and critical commentary. This extends miles beyond how he expanded my musical-philosophical horizons, and I can think of no other musician whose death personally hit the general public with such a hammer blow to our heart and soul. I appreciate and admire the way Lennon used his music to mentally transform and rebuild himself, and he laid out his psyche to be scrutinized on this disc. It was John s other side that ripped away the curtains of deceit and exposed the fallacies that society hid from our eyes and ears. He pulled no punches, nor did he expect any-but he also handed out some brutal assaults on the parties who had tried to crucify him for their particular issues and vendettas.Thankfully, the kinder, gentle tunes show the Libra side of John s soul--it s all there and out in the open on the title track: Imagine all the people living for today, living life in peace. To borrow from Yoko s idea on the back cover, try to envision Lennon s piano chords rolling past your mind as you lie on your back watching the clouds on a sunny day. The lyrics may be asking for too much, but in these times of violence as witnessed by today s youth killing each other in schools or worse, the global attacks of car bombs and terrorism unbound--would you turn down this dream? Sounding a bit like a jug band, Crippled Inside has a comic edge that was needed to soften Lennon s acidic compositions. Nicky Hopkins adds a great ragtime piano that could come from an old western movie saloon, and that s George Harrison doing the country shuffle on dobro. Leaving one single rose in a vase as an apology, Jealous Guy says what men have wanted to say for all the stupid things we have done to the women in our lives: I didn t mean to hurt youI m sorry that I made you cryI didn t mean to hurt youI m just a jealous guyJohn s vocal is particularly fragile, and this emphasizes his regret-he has only himself to blame. In a Playboy interview (yes, I did read it for the text!) in 1980 just before his death, John admitted how much he recognized Yoko as his complementary partner and how insensitive his actions had been toward her. As long as he was putting the cards on the table about his struggles, It s So Hard uses an opening blast from King Curtis s sax to clear your head, and John wears a hair shirt of frustration as his gutsy vocal adds to the confession. The guitars, sax, piano, and strings add a raven-like Nevermore confirmation to make it bitter. Keeping up his pleas for justice, righteousness, and an end to suffering, I Don t Want To Be a Soldier grabs the gathered studio assembly (Voorman-Keltner-Curtis-Harrison-Hopkins-Gordon, among others) and marches and chants in protest all the way to the demonstration. When Lennon was victimized (or set up as a fall guy, depending on who tells it), he could fight back with a verbal ferocity that could startle onlookers and listeners-he virtually used his words as a master plastic surgeon wields a scalpel. In this case, he takes the near punk-like composition of Gimme Some Truth and spits venom like an Indian cobra at a portrait of Richard Nixon and his administration s dirty tricks. George Harrison s slide solo flays all accusers who would harm his friend, and Lennon rages as though he s been told to drink hemlock. Down your own throats first, he replies. You just try and tell me that Kurt Cobain didn t admire John. For all his accusations of Paul McCartney as being a sop in love with his late wife, Linda (and writing music about it), John really did have his own mushy side for Yoko-witness Oh My Love and Oh Yoko! I don t begrudge the guy the chance to face his faults in the mirror, but these are as weak as anything he ever accused his writing partner of authoring. Speaking of McCartney, John takes a vicious, lethal swipe at him with How Do You Sleep, and does an unrelenting character assassination via direct references to Sergeant Pepper and Yesterday. The industry can substantiate that not everything that Paul released deserved long-term airplay (Ram and Wild Life) come to mind, but I didn t need John s primal scream rages of Mother from John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, either. Let he who casts the first stone...I ll wrap this with How? as John looks at the fork in the road and tries to figure his next move. Don t worry--he had plenty of issues left unresolved. I miss you, Mr. Lennon, and the 20th anniversary of that horrible moment in December brought back too many tears and regrets. Thanks for reminding us that we were born with wings-and teaching us again how to fly. As you said to your wife and soul mate, My love will turn you on. It has-and still does-for all.
The Power & Majesty is BACK! - Whoah! What a pairing of the chief Beatle s masterpiece & Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab s impeccable sonic craftsmanship. Imagine is more haunting & evocative than ever! A classic just got classier. . .